Don Burnett

Left to Right: Former Interim President Don Burnett, President Chuck Staben, UI Alumni Association Board member Ben Rae.

Interim President from June 2013-March 2014, Don Burnett started his Idaho appointment as dean of the University of Idaho College of Law in 2002. During this period, the college added subject areas of curricular emphasis and interdisciplinary collaboration; raised the level of institutional support for faculty scholarship; enhanced diversity in the faculty and student body; and expanded the delivery of legal education in the capital city of Boise.

During his deanship, Burnett chaired an Idaho Supreme Court’s task force on structure and resources for the state appellate courts in the next quarter-century; chaired the University of Idaho’s Ethical Guidance and Oversight Committee; served as a coordinating dean of university-wide interdisciplinary programs; and served on the Advisory Council for Operation Education, a scholarship program for disabled veterans. He chaired the University’s Steering Committee on Diversity and Human Rights as well as the Professionalism Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. He has received the Idaho State Bar’s Distinguished Lawyer, Outstanding Service, and Professionalism awards.

Burnett served as dean for 11 years before being named interim president of the university.

His previous careers encompassed service as an appellate judge, practicing lawyer, Army JAG officer, state bar president and law professor.